i Nar, a i Nen: The Fire and the Water
by Arhani 'Hanny' Daforcena
Summary: A collection of Zutara shorts. It is that simple. Haha. Please review! I suck at summaries....
1. Chapter 1

She looked at him and then darted her eyes away. She could not afford to have him catch her glancing at him like that. It was something that she had not prepared herself to do, and not to the person who she had seen as her enemy for the longest time ever. However, to her, he seemed to have come to her from a distant memory, a thought long absent from the depths of her mind and her soul. Somehow, he filled the void in her heart, carved out by the conflict and pain she had been through. It was his entire Nation's fault, his father's, his grandfather's, and his great-grandfather's, yes, it was all common knowledge. But was he to be blamed for all that evil? No, the little voice in her head told her bluntly. The only thing he was to be blamed for, was the fall of Ba Sing Se, and that, was partly due to a highly ingenious coup d'état that his sister had orchestrated. He just facilitated her victory. And now, he humbled himself before her, her brother, Toph and the Avatar, asking only to be accepted as Aang's Fire-Bending teacher…

She looked at him, and then darted her eyes away, knowing that actually admitting to herself that she had not really blamed him for everything that went wrong after his crazed sister shot Aang with lightning. In her heart, she wanted to forgive him, to let her feelings run true, but she knew that they all had a responsibility to the world. After all, was loving a person not more painful than hating a person? She'd rather live with the pain of hating him than do the former and maybe, just maybe, when all of the dark days had ended, she would have the chance to see differently.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes he wondered if the world really hated him. He had been promised a throne, a country, only to have them all taken away due to his own gentleness and caring of his own people, shamed for what he had not intended to do while defending them by his own father, with banishment as the outcome. And when he had began to see a new light in his life, after three long years at sea, searching for the Avatar fruitlessly, he met someone, a girl who was able to match her in spirit and in skill. Yes, she sided with the Avatar, but it mattered little to him…

Weeks of pursuit became months, and soon, he came to find out that the girl was no little prize. She was not to be conquered, not to be subdued, but to be respected, even as an enemy. She rose with the Moon as he rose with the Sun, he had told her after their duel in the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole. And still, they remained that way. Even months later, when they met at Ba Sing Se, trapped in the crystal catacombs, he could have felt that slight possibility that they could have a chance with one another, until his sister got to him with the promise of the restore of his honor and the even slighter chance of having his father's love.

But it all changed. It all changed when the rays of the Sun were blocked by the Moon in a rare eclipse. He had seen the error of his ways, and faced his father, making the tyrant know that he would aid the Avatar in his fight to defeat the Fire Lord. He knew that none would accept him so easily, much less _her_, but it was worth a try. It would always be worth a try.

It was not an easy road to pave for himself, but he did it. He had aided the Avatar in restoring balance to the world, and his reward was his throne, and the love of his people, as well as the cooperation of all the other leaders of the world. But the most important prize of all, was the female whose sapphire eyes did more than just captivate his soul.

Now, he lay on his side, arms wrapped around her in contented bliss, amber eyes focused on her sleeping form. If the world _really_ hated him, he would not be so blessed in return…


	3. Chapter 3

She looked at the necklace in her hand… It was made of gold, a thick chain that glittered under the sun; there was no single doubt that it was made by only the best craftsman, but the meaning of this gift, as discreetly luxuriant as it was, was deeper than its beauty. The pendant that it held, was shaped in the likeness of the symbol of the Water Tribes, bound by countless rubies, and within the rubies, were countless sapphires…

It was not a gift that he had given to her out of a whim, or out of his own raging hormones (which he did not even take notice of since his exile, much less during the war), but a gift that he had took a long, long while to ponder about. Who knew how long had he thought of the design, how many hours he had to endure when the Fire Sages kept sending him noblemen's daughters yearning for him to even look at them. Even Mai, his childhood friend and one-time beloved, was not spared… Many meetings of the council were called for just this purpose, and it took almost all the leaders of the world to reach an agreement: the young Fire Lord had to have a foreign wife. It was that simple. She was the daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, the equivalent of a high-born princess of the House of Agni, there could be no better candidate.

And yet, this promised union had its roots in a political marriage, but she felt herself to be ultimately blessed. All that mattered to her was that she could be with the man that once acknowledged as her enemy, the man that she knew that she loved, and only he could truly make her happy. And the ironic thing was that she once playfully said to him that she would be his Fire Lady only when Water could be encased by Fire

She looked at the pendant in her hand… and she smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

She was born for her duty. It was not some noble cause to save the world, but it was one to make sure her family was positioned high enough in the Fire Nation hierarchy. Ever since the Princess, Azula had shown signs of friendship with her, she had been pressured to continue with that friendship. Of course, her family had not gone unrewarded. As she and the Princess grew, so did her father's position, and the family income. And as the years passed, it had suddenly become eminent that she would be the next Fire Lady, as the noblemen and bureaucrats were already lobbying for the young prince Zuko and her to be affianced in the future…

However, once the war ended, it all changed for her. It had become clear to her that the newly-crowned Fire Lord did not love her as she would have wished. Her amber eyes could not catch his amber ones as well as the sapphire ones of the Water-Tribe peasant. Yet, she was not a peasant. If she had not heard wrong, the Water-bending girl was technically the only princess in the Water-Tribes, being the only daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribes. What made matters worse for her was that the recent peace summit concluded with the decree that the Fire Lord had to marry a foreign wife…

She thought that her heart could not break as many times since he had left the Fire Nation to fight by the side of the Avatar. She had thought that she would have pierced the heart of that man-stealing wrench with her projectiles, but she did not do so. When she had been a guest at their wedding, she had to literally stop herself from crying when the bride and groom walked to her table to greet her. She had wished them bliss and health, but she knew that those words came not from her heart, containing nothing but lies.

So, before she could take any of the pain any further, she left. She left, and she knew that he would never look for her again, for he had told her before, that she was his past, and the new Fire Lady was his future…


	5. Chapter 5

To say that he was heartbroken when it finally dawned upon him that she loved another was an understatement. To know that the man she loved was the newly-crowned Fire Lord did him little justice as the Avatar, as he thought. Who were they to deny him what he deserved? Had he not ended the reign of terror that Ozai would have brought should he succeed? Was it so wrong to ask for the love of the one who showered so much kindness and showed so much courage and spirit? It was an outrage! Did the world not know how he felt?

Rage boiled in his own body, burning, scorching his very soul when he saw one day at dusk, the two of them together, sitting at the edge of a turtle-duck pond, laughing and talking in one another's embrace. Who they thought they were? Who were they to openly proclaim that it was what destiny had willed for them? What about him?

Matters got worse in the peace summit the following year. All the leaders from the remaining three Nations had decreed the Fire Lord had to take a foreign woman as his wife. And by Fire Nation law, the Fire Lord could only have a wife of noble blood. The Earth King had no children, while Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribes had already become the new Moon Spirit, and that meant only one thing, that _she_ was the only candidate, the woman that he loved. And in the happiness of the mood of the conference, no one even noticed that he had slipped out, seething in rage.

In the years to come, no one no longer dared to claim that they knew the young boy who had defeated the previous Fire Lord, for he had changed, he had changed, and no one could turn him back. Yes, he still served the nations, sorting out disagreements, giving his aid in times of crises, but he no longer had the spirit he had during his childhood, and it was all because of one woman. That woman had taken his heart, and nursed it, only to plunge it into pits of fires that even her Fire-Bending husband would not be able to fathom. It was because of one woman that he became cold and callous. It would be all _her_ fault, that her blindness had caused all this.

But it would not be like that. When he opened his eyes again after he saw the woman he loved with another person that was not him, he just sighed. Perhaps, she and the young Fire Lord were really made for one another, perhaps it was their destiny, written by the hand of Fate? Who was he to fight against what had already happened?

So, inwardly, he gives them his blessing, and hopes that only the happy, joyous elements of his vision would come true, and that he would continue to be himself, even if he already knew that his one desire would be denied to him. He would be willing to accept that, so long that his friends were happy, so long that _she_ was content.


	6. Chapter 6

The Fire and the Water… the gold-haired being smiled as she watched from her mirror the young couple that sparred with one another. Yes, she knew that Ea, the World, was divided into many, many parts, many, many dimensions and realms unknown to one another, yet she could see them, by chance, when the Mirror would grant the chance to. It was a sight, full of sheer power, determination and love…

The love that the two warriors had, could and would be the only thing that might save them all. She did not know what darkness would consume them, but she knew well that like her own world, they were almost being forced to utter defeat, if not for the small sliver of hope that Fire and Water held…

Fire coursed in the veins of the youth, scarred on the left portion of his otherwise handsome face, and as she watched the flames that he had generated, she smiled. Yes, this youth would mature into a man of honor, a man of valor, without a doubt. He would carve for himself and those of his world, a new age of peace and glory. Although he found not the way to do so yet, the girl with eyes of Water would aid him.

The Water maiden, the gold-haired being perceived to be wise beyond her years, mortality notwithstanding, able to bring the best of all around her… She knew that the hurts of the world would be healed as easily as a smile with from her. It was all she needed to do, apart from pouring her soul into the heat of battle.

The Fire and the Water, they were total opposites, but they were the hope that would propel a future…

* * *

Zuko had been sparring with Katara in a secluded strip of sea-kissed beach on Ember Island when they heard a woman's voice out of nowhere, saying, "I nar a i nen, estellion i Galad… Eglerio… Eglerio i othar, othar o i nar a i nen!" Those words they did not understand, but somehow, as if the speaker had understood their thoughts, a translation came but seconds later. "The Fire and the Water, trust the Light. Praise… praise the warriors, the warriors of the Fire and the Water!"

For years to come, they would not know who was the woman who spoke those words, but they knew that in their hearts, the day would come when they would see her. They would see her upon a blessed island, where Agni's majesty reigned supreme, and where green shores rolled, and the white gulls would call to them, and they would have the welcome deserving of warriors that fought for peace, along with all whom they loved.

HAN: For some wierd reason, I have always associated Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings with Avatar, and in turn, be a Zutarian... So, what do you think about this? I know that my Sindarin is appalling for someone who claims to be a Ringer, but hey, I hope that it has some degree of correctness. Please do not hesitate to correct me, ok?


End file.
